Dear Editor,
A case of totally illiterate student passing the S.S.L.C. Examination with distinction has come to light. This news has been going viral. The name of the student is Prabhu Lokare. He has ‘scored’ 623 marks out of 625. It is 99.7 in terms of percentage. A case has been reportedly registered in Koppala on April 26. He is an employee in Koppala JMFC Court. On the strength of the marks card showing 623 marks out of 625 marks, he has secured a peon’s job in District Sessions court. The criteria for the selection of Peon’s post is that the candidate should have passed S.S.L.C. with good percentage of marks. Since the marks obtained by him are too high, he was selected. As he was working in his court, the Magistrate had known the employee’s “ability” to read and write. Suspecting foulplay at the marks seen in the marks card, the JMFC Magistrate has ordered the police for an enquiry in the case with regard to his educational qualifications. The history of the case is that Prabhu was working as a scavenger in the JMFC Court of Koppala in Raichur district for the last few years. He has been selected for the post of Peon in District and Sessions Judge court on April 22. After passing the 7th standard examination, the employee is reported to have directly written the 10th standard (SSLC) examination skipping 8th and 9th standard as per rules. He knows neither to read nor to write Kannada, Hindi or English. It has been opined that the so high marks obtained by a person who knows neither to read and write Kannada, Hindi or English have done grave injustice to the hard-working students. Since the future of other students is affected due to the passing of such persons with very high percentage of marks, it has been rightly suspected that the marks could not have been obtained without conniving with the authorities concerned.
A detailed enquiry has been ordered including comparing his handwriting with the handwriting in the answer sheet. When the TV-9 staff contacted Prabhu, he has reportedly pleaded that he had attended to a private examination centre in 2017-18 in Banahatti of Bagalkot District conducted by Delhi Education Examination Baord. The veracity of the truth can be known by thorough enquiry only. It is not the examination conducted by the Karnataka Education Board, according to Prabhu’s own confession. Even if it is true that it was Delhi Education Examination Board, the percentage of marks obtained raises eyebrows of anybody considering his inability to read and write Kannada, Hindi or English. In that case, he has also failed to meet with the criteria to pass the S.S.L.C. examination which was considered to be necessary for selection to the post of Peon in the District court.
An illiterate obtaining marks almost 100 per cent reminds the oft-repeated statement byMaster Hirannaiah, a noted Kannada Playwright.
He quite often used to say in the dialogue scripted by himself for his dramas “Give me money, I will get you your own death certificate and place it in your hand”. Master Hirrannaiah played many dramas targeting corruption in government offices. It is obvious that in this case money has played pivotal role in getting 623 marks out of 625 marks to an illiterate. If some more money had been shelled out by the candidate, perhaps he would have got the remaining 2 marks also.
K.V. Seetharamaiah
